Toddler with possible autism

[StudentNurse3]

Can anyone tell me how SWs can tell if the toddler's speech delay and motor delay is due to negligence or if it is autism?

There is autism and ADHD in the family. However the elder DC hasn't had any delays.

The SWs want to put a supervision order onto her/toddler. They are coming from the angle that it is negligence. But I don't know how they can difirentiate and I'm not sure this is fair.

Any information or advice much appreciated.

There must be something else going on.

Yes, I should have said the mum's mental health has been affected recently. She has reactive depression. I'm just wondering if there is anything she can do to show his delays aren't due to her neglecting him.

Well, maybe take him to the GP? It is not an either or! Not being autism doesn't mean neglect, and not being neglext doesn't mean autism, there could be something else going on, or both

SW wouldn't put an order on lightly. Either her MH must have been extremely bad or they have other reason to suspect negligence.

It can be very hard to unpick attachment disorder from autism even for professionals.

There's clearly a much bigger story here. The two are not mutually exclusive. Why are SW involved in the first place?

Supervision orders are granted by courts. There will be much more evidence gathered and investigations before this is decided and it will include evidence from medical and appropriatly trained professionals.
If neglect is suspected/ ss are taking this to court this will be because of more evidence than just a child's speech delay. Many children have speech and/or developmental delays and never cross the door of ss. They must have other evidence to suggest he is being neglected.

My nephew didn't speak til age 4! He's a right chatterbox now at age 7! Social services didn't even know! What would they? There must be other things going on

Hmm, I have severe anxiety/depression/ptsd, son had a speech delay and ss were never informed at all, I'm not sure why they would be? Something else must be going on

But would a GP refer him to the child development centre at his young age (2)? Also it would take a long time to get an appointment. Are there any Health Visitors that can assess for traits perhaps?

Well firstly, I think it would show that the parent had noticed the speech and motor delays and were asking for support, which would look better to ss. The GP may also be able to rule out other causes such for the speech and language and motor delays - such as neurological difficulties.

Oh and I take your point yes. But the alleged neglect is to do with the delays.

We have lots of Autism and ADHD in the family. The DC's half sibling has both. To us this looks like the DC who have neuro diversity, I just don't know how we can demonstrate that as he is so small.

Butt. Out. OP.

and leave it to the professionals

Who is this person in relation to you OP? How do you know there isn't neglect? (Lots of ASD and ADHD diagnoses in a family can point to there being quite a few difficulties going on in that family, and these may have impacted the toddler)

Did the child's parents report any concerns with delays at any of the HV checks or request a HV or GP review? How did the social worker get involved? There is clearly more to this.

Her mental health has been pretty bad. But she has had some people around her helping out. I'm sure sometimes she hasn't felt like doing his walking with him but his dad and myself have.

In her position- I would work with social services.

Engaging with them help demonstrate her commitment to protect her child and ensure they have the support they need even if she is struggling with her MH. It can be a little complex if a parents MH makes it harder for them to be a consistent and proactive parent. A supervision order allows for the extra support to be implemented when a parent is, for whatever reason, struggling to engage. Significant depression can significantly impact a persons ability to care for themselves let alone a high energy small person. The possible neglect may not be intentional due to MH but children still need to be protected from unintentional neglect if a parent is not well enough to meet their needs.

It will become pretty clear over a period of time if the developmental concerns were down to a parent struggling to meet a toddlers needs OR if the child has extra needs due to a hidden issue like autism or ADHD. Sometimes it can be a mix of parent struggles with MH and its made much harder by having a child with extra hidden developmental issues.

My eldest DS has profound autism. By 2 no-one could get near him. He bit his hospital social worker so hard he drew blood and they needed stitches. I could understand why SS wanted to check he was not being badly neglected as his development was Uber atypical, he did not play and he was none verbal.

The mum tried to take her own life 😔

We're still battling to get her the mental health support she needs. But they are saying all of her DS's issues are due to her neglecting him, yet from our point of view they just look like autism.

You should be embracing and supporting SW involvement in this scenario. Not trying to “prove” something that you clearly know very little about indeed

Thankfully, I know that no matter what you do or say - SWs really will take very little notice as a member of her close family.

So there will be a paediatrician consulted about autism? That's reassuring.

I didn't just say speech delay, I said motor delay too occuring at the same time as mum being depressed.

If the child's sibling has Autism it is worth pointing this out, genetic conditions do tend to run in families!

Stop trying to fight them and work alongside them to help the child and the mother.

Mum's mental health

SS do become involved in severe cases of mental health.

Is your partner this child’s father? If so he will be party to the proceedings in family courts and needs to contact a solicitor.